Miscellaneous, 477 



Conn., among eel-grass (Zostera), in 1874, I found several speci- 

 mens in which the entire dorsal disk, with the contained viscera, 

 had been lost and more or less restored, showing the various stages 

 of the process. The dorsal disk of this species is soft and swollen , 

 and is very easily detached. The arms are exceedingly long an d 

 slender, and su])ject to frequent restorations. In some of the ex- 

 amples in which a new disk was forming, the scars are still plainly 

 visible on the bases of the arms, showing where the disk had been 

 torn away, and its former size. In some of these the new disk, 

 though perfect in form, had not grown to more than one third or 

 one half the diameter of the old one ; in others it was nearly com- 

 pleted. These small disks, connected with the full-sized arms and 

 jaws of the adult, give such specimens a very peculiar appearance. 

 At first I mistook some of these for the genuine young ; but a more 

 careful examination easily revealed their true nature. 



In the same lot were specimens in which a portion of the edge 

 of the disk, with one or two of the arms, had been destroyed and 

 afterwards restored. ' In a few instances two arms had grown out 

 in place of one. — Amer. Journ. Sci., May 1882, p. 408. 



On the Abyssal Malacological Fauna of the Mediterranean. 

 By M. Fischer. 



The demonstrated existence in the Mediterranean of a deep zone 

 included between 250 and 3624 metres, and characterized by its 

 constant temperature (about 55° F.), lends much interest to the 

 enumeration of the Mollusca that live under these definite thermal 

 conditions. But it is necessary to distinguish the species which 

 inhabit the bottom from those whose shells have fallen from the- 

 surface after death. In most of the deep dredgings of the ' Tra- 

 vailleur ' we found shells of pelagic Mollusca *, sometimes forming 

 enormous accumulations, but quite incapable of furnishing any 

 notion of the true abyssal fauna. On the other hand, the Gastro- 

 poda, the Scaphopoda, the Lamellibranchiata, and the Brachiopoda, 

 in the adult state and with the shell intact, generally lived upon the 

 bottom, whence they were collected by the dredge. 



Nothing was known of the Gulf of Lyons below 350 metres. The 

 most productive dredgings in Mollusca off these coasts during the 

 expedition of the ' Travailleur ' were at the stations No. 1 (555 

 metres), 9 (445 metres), and 5 (1685 metres); and the list that 

 we have prepared includes more than sixty species t. Some of 



* Cephalopoda : Argonauta argo. Pteropoda : Spirialis phgsoides, 

 S. hulimuides, Protomedea rostralis, Ilgulata iridentata, H. vaginellina, 

 Cleodora lanceolata, C. cusjn'data, Cresels spinifera. Heteeopoda : Cari- 

 naria mediterranea, Atlanta Feronii. Gastropoda (larvte) : Sinu- 

 sigera, sp. 



t Brachiopoda : Terehratida vitrea, Terehratella septuta, Teir-ln-atulina 

 capid-serpentis, Megerliu tmncuta. Lamellibranchiata: Lima ellip- 

 tica, L. suhaurirulafa, Z. S'arsi, Pecten Brunei pes-hdrfe, P. Iloskinsi, P. 

 fenestratus, Midletia cuneata, Leda inessanieyisis, L. striohtta, Xiicula sul- 

 cata, Area lactea, A. tetraguna, A. jjectunculoides, Limopsis uurita, L. 

 mimda, Dacrgdium vitreum, Astarte sidcata, A. triangularis, Venus 

 Ann. (& Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. ix. 33 



